Filtering Websites for Students

I am a library teacher who used to be a tech teacher. I am also a parent of middle school and high school students. I am starting a new job in the fall so I am not sure about what policies are in place and which ones I will add to them.

I had the unique experience of teaching for one school year at an International School in Shanghai, China. The first bit of uniqueness came from how the Chinese government blocked whichever sites they felt would not be beneficial for the Chinese Government. That meant Facebook, Twitter, Blogger, YouTube, and sometimes even Google could not be accessed from Shanghai. It also meant many other sites were blocked if they were linked to any of those. The limitations that China puts on its people just so that they will not revolt against the government is extreme. Of course, many educators compare China to what is happening in US Schools. US Schools believe that the CIPA means we have to block everything, but that is for protection children against pornography. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children%27s_Internet_Protection_Act)

The limitations of my students in China were very odd because for them it was protecting them against critical thinking and social networking sites. I believe in order to teach students to stay safe on the Internet it would be easier to have no filtering software at US schools. We can teach students to manage their own digital footprint by having everything open and showing them how to use it correctly.